Hello.

My name is… well, it’s not Inigo Montoya, but I can be your Huckleberry. If you know what I mean. *eyebrow waggle*

Actually, my name is Ceci. I’m generally hard pressed not to insert weird pop culture references and 13-yr old boy level sexual innuendo into any conversation I’m in, so I thought I’d just get it out there. Whip it out. You know. Okay, I’m done. (For now.)

I met Karin many, many years ago on ravelry.com. I’d say hit ’em up, but if you’re a knitter and you know Karin, you’re already there. It’s actually been a really long time since I was active there. I went and had a couple of kids — I know! What was I thinking? — and the structure of my free time has changed so much since then, this slow-rolling descent into middle agedness, that I don’t even recognize myself sometimes. But I keep trying!

This cowl, for example, has been on my needles for over 4 years now and I’m just now starting to realize it’s probably not going to be long enough to go around my neck… Boo.

Recently, my life’s been through rather an … extra amount of change. At least, in comparison to what I’m accustomed to. I reached out to my friends for a little support, some creative energy lifelines to help me retain my sense of artistic self, and Karin offered me a guest blog post spot. Writing. Which is something I haven’t done in even longer than it’s been since I knitted regularly; but, the day we stop embracing change with a spark of creativity is the day we… Oh jeez, I’m too tired to come up with something fresh. Please insert some glib little quip here. Preferably with a dick joke in it.

You know, I’ve been very un-committed to my creativity for most of my adult life. I tend to let it go when things are happy and busy, and then come rushing back to it when I’m feeling lost or overwhelmed. Like what my old church used to call a foxhole Christian. I’m a foxhole artist. Sigh. There’s no excuse… I live in Austin. What a whirlwind of creative opportunity! It’s almost hard NOT to meet cool people of every kind in this city.

There’s the AVAA (Austin Visual Arts Association), which has been hosting figure drawing meetings for years now that are my retreat when I need some zen time with a pencil in my hand. And I’ve still managed to make some wonderful connections to new friends during those quiet times, from talented artists with beautiful souls and beautiful skills, to wandering college students with amazing stories and bright futures, to local burlesque performers with such energy and passion that they tug at my soul.

And then, of course, there are my students and their families. I’m an educator. This, more than anything, I believe has kept me young and my life full of color and creativity even when my art gets left behind for a while. I will always come back to it and brush the dust off my knitting needles and my journal and my sketch pads and even my precious violin, whom I call Detmering and have been fondling again just lately.

But in the in-between times, when life is just too happy and busy for that artsy introspection and the quiet need to create my visible art, you can find me running around in the meadow above the foxhole, creating loud living art instead with my children, my family, my friends, and my students.

I’ll see you there!